A gang of rambunctious uniformed school boys, dubbed the 'Bin Laden group' by their schoolmaster, standing on the highway at Kallol said: "Sunita is from Gujarat. That is why we want to see her!"

"Around here, she is well-loved because she belongs to this very soil," said a constable proudly, adding, "Her father has done a lot of service for the temples in this area."

"This is her Janmabhoomi and America is her karmabhoomi," went the fiery speeches at various commemoration ceremonies in these villages. "She is a videsh ki pari! (angel from abroad)."

"Because the media has given her this attention, the local people think she has to be someone important," explained a volunteer.

It is actually a continuing cycle -- media hype brings the crowds and as the crowds grow so does the media attention.

It is quite obvious that patriotism and local pride have turned a blind eye to Sunita's 'foreign-ness' and shortage of Gujarati/Hindi. Wherever she travelled on Friday, she was greeted like a returning hero… a sort of demi-god who had spent six months in the heaven.